Dynamic written corrective feedback frequency and its effects on ESL writing fluency, accuracy, and complexity

Abstract

Dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF) is an instructional strategy that uses error codes to address patterned errors in student writing. While studies have shown that DWCF significantly increases the accuracy of student writing, less is known about the effect frequency of teacher feedback has on accuracy, fluency, and complexity. This study observed two treatment groups who wrote short compositions and received comprehensive feedback daily (n=34) or every-other-day (n=34) with the amount of writing held constant at twenty minutes per week. When compared with a control group (n=33), findings showed greater accuracy for both the every-other-day group (p<.001, d=1.07) and the daily group (p<.001, d=1.26) while the daily group had significantly larger gains in fluency compared to the control group (p<.001, d=1.15) and the every-other-day group (p<.001, d=1.14). Two forms of complexity were also examined. No statistically significant differences were observed for clauses per T-unit. For mean length of T-unit, there was no significant difference between the control group and the daily group, but there was a significant decline for the every-other-day group compared to the control group (p=.025, d=0.75). Results contribute to SLA theory and can be useful for practitioners seeking to improve student writing in regular, short writing tasks.